ICE Chief: Crypto trading is a “trend we can’t ignore”

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, on Monday said they refuse to rule out starting futures contracts on digital currencies.

“There is a trend here we can’t ignore in my mind, so I don’t discount it,” said ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. “People put more faith in a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto that no one has ever met than they do in the U.S. Fed,” he added, referring to the mysterious Bitcoin founder.

Numerous smaller exchanges have appeared, in recent years, to cash in on the growing popularity of crypto assets trading despite occurrence of thefts and threats of regulatory scrutiny.

Traditional exchange operators capitalize on the price volatility of cryptocurrencies by presenting their own offerings to their own customers.

Just last December, CME Group Inc. and Cboe Global Markets Inc. started futures contract on bitcoin and Nasdaq Inc. is also thinking of doing the same.